


Just a little crush

by Its_Raineing_Words



Series: Hermione Granger and the Bulgarian Seeker [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Chivalry, Crushes, Cute, Cutesy, Developing Relationship, F/M, First Crush, First Dates, Flirting, Getting to Know Each Other, Hermione Granger is a Good Friend, One Shot, One Shot Collection, POV Hermione Granger, Pre-Relationship, Talking, Teen Crush, Teenagers, The Golden Trio, Viktor is cute, Walking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-20
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-10-13 09:54:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17485955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Its_Raineing_Words/pseuds/Its_Raineing_Words
Summary: Hermione and Viktor's first date.





	Just a little crush

Hermione was acting strangely and she knew it. If she could have controlled it she wouldn’t have but as it was she couldn’t, the feeling was simply too delicious. She practically rolled about under her duvet in order to assuage the energy that flowed through her at the thought of him, a very frequent thought these days.   
“Hermione, stop it! Some of us are trying to have a lie in,” Lavender Brown complained as she threw a conveniently placed sock in the general direction of Hermione’s bed and missing spectacularly.  
“Sorry, just feeling a bit energetic,” she replied, unable to keep the smile off of her face.  
Lavender didn’t grace her with a reply and soon Hermione could hear the dulcet tones of her snoring. This left her alone with her thoughts, the feeling of being in a room full of unaware people with a secret was too exciting to be contained and after a few more minutes of writhing around on her bed in happiness she gave up on sleep and snuck out of her bed and down to the Gryffindor common room. 

It was colder down in the common room and she was alone, it wasn’t that it was particularly early despite what Lavender might think. It was seven in the morning, in fact, a perfectly reasonable time to be awake whichever way you looked at it. Though, of course, it was the weekend and so everyone was taking the time to catch up on their sleep before a long way of lounging about or Quidditch practice. Hermione wasn’t that type, of course, but she did have plans that didn’t involve the library today. She hadn’t told Harry or Ron because she knew that they would see it as fraternising with the enemy and also she wanted to have something that they didn’t know about, something to separate herself from them. Hermione loved them both dearly but spending so much time with teenage boys was beginning to make her feel like one. There was someone that made her feel as feminine as a rose petal, however, the person that was doing a fine job of driving her to distraction.  
Viktor….  
Viktor Krum, professional Quidditch player to the world and the boy with the intelligent eyes to her. After their first meeting in the library, they had spoken a lot more but it only been when they had bumped into each other. Though given the frequency of their meetings she had the rye suspicion that Viktor had something to do with that. He had invited her to walk with him around the lake today, however, and possibly even show her the ship if he could find a way to sneak her onboard. 

Flopping into an armchair and summoning the book she was reading from her bedside table she settled in to wait for when her friends would wake up. She was in a good mood and was looking forward to their reactions when she excused herself. She had plans without them which made her feel giddy slightly. Harry was the Boy-Who-Lived which was a burden much more than a blessing but still, he had own identity outside of the trio, Ron also had his own identity as the youngest Weasley brother which he hated but still...Hermione was the bookworm, the know-it-all, top of the class. She was proud of her accomplishments, of course, and it was an integral part of herself but it wasn’t all of who she was. People didn’t tend to see that, sometimes not even Harry or Ron. Viktor did, however, he saw a pretty girl who he wanted to get to know better, someone who was driven and had a work ethic. He liked her and she knew it, it was so simple. Simply bliss. She didn’t feel as though she had to prove herself or try to suss out his intentions. He genuinely wanted her and it was such a novel sensation to her that she felt a little pathetic but she knew that because her brain was so highly developed her body always lagged behind. Late-bloomer, her mother had called her, but now was her time to shine, to bloom and she was going to grab it with both hands for once. For her entire life, she had merely been a head in a jar with her body as something that let her do magic or walk around or hold books but those days were over.

The time passed achingly slowly but eventually, it was midday and she took great pleasure in swanning out of the common room and down to the main doors outside of the castle and onto the grounds. Viktor was already there and looking off into the distance. Hermione took the opportunity to simply look at him for a moment, to drink him in. He looked resplendent in his Durmstrang uniform, the fur that lined his cape stood out in stark contrast with the bright red of the jacket he wore that buttoned up on one shoulder. It reminded Hermione of the traditional Chinese dress that a classmate of hers had worn to a show and tell when she was still in primary school, a qipao she had called it. Hermione had seen amazingly vivid colours of the dress, the birds that were woven into the fabric and seemed to sore about and thought to herself that there must be a lot more to the world than just where she lived in Heathgate. Viktor’s uniform engendered the same exotic feeling in her and it made her breath catch in her throat, the uniform suited him so very, very well…

After a while, he turned towards her and his face lit up in a smile as he strode over to meet her at the bottom of the stairs and gave her his arm, presumably to help her down though she didn’t need it. Hermione smiled up at him for a moment and they just stood there before she looked down again, feeling rather bashful.   
“Hermy-own, it is good to see you. Better than good,” he greeted, kissing the back of her hand lightly which made her blush yet again before letting her hand go.  
“It’s good to see you too, Viktor. I hope your teachers haven’t been making you work too hard,” she said, smiling at the memory of him complaining about his professor making him learn Fiendfyre.  
“Same as always, we’re learning how to stop someone using Imperious on us. Well,” he said bashfully, “learning again.”  
“Oh wow, that sounds difficult.”  
“It is,” he laughed.  
“Should we go now?” Hermione ventured as she saw a Slytherin 5th year, she didn’t want the confrontation. Especially not today of all days. 

Luckily Viktor seemed keen to set off and so Hermione avoided any sort of verbal spar with some plucky Slytherin, they were always the type to pick a fight despite not knowing her at all. They must have House meetings about it or something because they all seem to spew the exact same vitriol, she thought wryly to herself. 

They walked slowly, not wanting to rush as they caught up with each other. The weather was cold but sweet as it blew sweetly across the both of them as they walked just this side of too closely together, bumping against each other gently every now and then.   
“I wanted to congratulate Harry on how he did the last challenge but I didn’t have time,” he said as they approached the lake.  
Hermione could see the ship from Durmstrang floating majestically on top of the lake, the reflection of it rippling in the water. The pattern of the moving reflection soon relaxed her mind but still, she was aware of Viktor’s presence beside her like the warmth of a crackling fire. This was like nothing that she had ever experienced before and it was simultaneously thrilling and nerve-wracking.   
Eventually, she pulled herself out of her thoughts enough to speak, “You did well too, the Blinding Hex was a good idea...it’s just a shame that she destroyed some of her own eggs.”  
He looked down, genuinely mournful for a moment, “Yes, I didn’t want that to happen. It did work but I should have thought that would happen, do something different, something better.”  
Hermione shrugged uselessly, “There’s no way to change the past, unfortunately.”  
He snorted, “You’re right,” he looked away from her for a moment and out towards the lake, “Hogwarts isn’t too bad.”  
Hermione rolled her eyes even as she smiled, “I’m sure Hogwarts is glad that you’ve changed your mind.”  
Viktor picked up on her unspoken question, “The good weather makes me like it more.”  
“But it’s freezing!” Hermione pointed out, not sure whether to laugh or feel indignant. She had cast warming charms on herself and worn lots of layers but she was still feeling the cold. And yet, there Viktor was looking bright as a button and warm as anything in his regular uniform and cloak, jammy sod, she couldn’t help but think to herself huffily.  
“Oh!” He cried out, “Of course, you’re English…”   
He said that as if it explained everything and apparently it did in his mind and before Hermione could reply he had deftly whipped off his cloak and wrapped it around her. She knew she must look ridiculous utterly dwarfed by the sheer size of the thing but it made her feel so lightheaded that she could float away, luckily the cloak was fairly heavy so she kept her feet on the ground for the moment.   
“But you’ll be cold now, Viktor. Don’t be silly, take it back,” she argued already beginning to pull it off of her shoulders.  
He stepped back nimbly, effectively avoiding her efforts, “This is not as cold as Durmstrang or Bulgaria. I am fine, Hermy-own. I swim in weather that makes this look little.”  
She snorted, “Whatever you say. Are you sure? I have two cloaks and you have none now.”  
“Really I’m fine. Don’t worry.”   
“If you say so…” She wasn’t convinced but the sheer gallantry of the gesture made her giddy and so she let it go. His cloak was comforting weight around her and she tried to discreetly sniff the collar to see if she could catch some of his scent and she was pleasantly surprised at the woody and comforting nature of it. She wanted to keep on inhaling but she was distracted by Viktor beginning to walk again so she hurried to keep up.   
“Really though,” Hermione began to say before stopping herself for a moment as her voice sounded far too genuinely emotional, “I am glad that you like Hogwarts. It’s...it’s my home away from home and I would hate it if you didn’t like it because I wouldn’t want you to be stuck in a place that you don’t like.”  
Damn, that was just as bad as what she was going to say before. What utterly overly emotional drivel. She really should have just shut up.  
Viktor looked down at her with a small smile curling up at the edge of his lips like a contented cat, “Of course I like it, you’re here.”  
“That is...that is very sweet.”  
“I’m not sweet, I’m honest,” he looked thoughtful for a moment, the cogs in his brain were whirring away, “I think that people don’t enough say that to you.”   
Hermione pretended to hum thoughtfully so as to regain her composure, this was beginning to feel like an Austen novel. She looked up at him carefully, not wanting to seem shy and yet not wanting to be overly flirtatious either-not that flirting was something that came easily to her.   
“I suppose you’re right, people don’t say things like that to me. But now you’re here so you can say those things to me,” she said, at the beginning of the sentence confidently and ending in an embarrassed murmur.   
Viktor simply nodded as if what she had just said was perfectly normal and not far too emotional. Well, perhaps it wasn’t for him, though it certainly would have sent Ron running for the hills. 

The two of them simply looked out onto the lake, both of them seemingly with things to think over. Hermione took that time to covertly stare at Viktor’s reflection in the lake, not wanting to make it obvious by turning to look at him. The image was distorted but she filled in the blanks easily and she was struck again by the incongruity of this whole situation. Here was this Bulgarian Quidditch player here, in Hogwarts, with her. You couldn’t make it up, she thought to herself wryly, no one would believe me if I went to the Prophet with this, not even if I had photographic evidence. 

Viktor turned to look at her and smiled, his eyes crinkling up with warmth and she looked away feeling slightly shy all of a sudden. Being out with him was almost more than her nerves could take, the effort of keeping her excitement hidden was difficult. Her hands shook slightly as she smiled back at him.   
“I like being here,” she said, feeling braver as she continued, “with you.”  
“Good,” Viktor replied simply.  
There was a moment of silence that stretched comfortably before them and Hermione took that time to think of what to say next. This wasn’t like the other times that they had spoken, this held an implicit weight to it; not that she felt as though she was being judged or evaluated but there was definitely something there. This was new, like a match that had only just caught fire and like a burning match, there was the promise of greater things. 

As they continued to walk around the lake, chatting away happily, the sky began to clear in the midafternoon sun which brought out lots of other students who were all eager to soak up some sunlight regardless of the temperature. The presence of all these people made Hermione aware that technically Harry could be upset by her talking to Viktor, not that she saw the sense in it. It was just a competition at heart, the stakes were high-too high, but still...   
The calm pleasantness of their walk couldn’t last forever and eventually, Hermione had to get back to the common room to start her essay lest she fall behind with her work. She didn’t want to leave Viktor but he had to get back to the ship for his lessons himself so she didn’t feel too bad about it. When they got back to the main door into the castle Hermione reluctantly took off Viktor’s cloak which had become a comforting weight for her and handed it back to him and she felt rather too light without it.  
“I’ll see you soon, Viktor. I had a great time today.”  
“I’m glad, I will see you soon, Hermy-own,” he smiled down at her and for a moment she forgot that someone she knew could come round the corner and see them at any moment.

Hermione rushed back to the common room, an irrepressible smile dominating her face.   
“What’s got you all happy?” Ron mumbled as he looked up from the game of Wizard’s chess he was playing with Harry.  
Harry, who seemed happy for the distraction, looked up and added, “It doesn’t matter as long as she’s feeling better, we’ve all been under a lot of pressure lately.”  
Ron sighed, “You’re right, I just don’t like being left out of things.”  
“Thank you, Harry,” Hermione said, walking over and rubbing his head fondly, though that didn’t make his hair look any less messy.  
“Seriously though, Mione. What were you up to?” Ron asked as he took his move and Harry hissed in annoyance, “Check.”  
“Not that it’s any of your business but I was talking a walk around the lake. Fresh air is good for the constitution and the mind, I had an idea while I was out actually.”  
“What is it?” Harry enquired excitedly, momentarily forgetting that he was losing the game.   
“Well I’ll have to do some more research but I think I have an idea of how to get you prepared for the next task.”  
“That’s very vague,” Harry grumbled.  
“I don’t want to get your hopes up,” She countered.   
He put his hands up in surrender, “Of course, I’ll just let you do your thing. Let me know if you find anything.”  
“Alright great,” Ron said huffily, “but can we get back to the game? I want to finish before tea.”


End file.
